Tray attachment for chairs or couches provided with arms



J y 0- A. D. PARKINSON 1,771,231

TRAY ATTACHMENT FOR CHAIRS OR COUCHES PROVIDED WITH ARMS Filed Nov. 17. 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 17D P r/(Mean July 22, 1930. A. D. PARKINSON 1,771,231

TRAY ATTACHMENT FOR CHAIRS OR COUCHES. PROVIDED WITH ARMS Filed Nov. 17, 1928 V 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 22, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ANDREW DIN'GWALL PABKINSON, OF MUSWELLIBROOK, NEW SOUTH WALES, AUS- TRALIA, ASSIGNOR T FRANCIS KEITH MACKAY, OF SCRUMBO, ABERDEEN, NEW

' SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA.

TRAY ATTACHMENT FOR CHAIRS OE COUGHES PROFIDED WITH ARMS Application filed November 17, 1928, Serial Lire. 320,061, and in Australia February 7,1928.

It has been found that when a person is seated upon a chair or couch having arms it is most inconvenient to handle a cup and saucer and plate and for this reason afternoon j: teas or suppers are now often served upon a table at which the guests are seated as in the case with any ordinary meal.

The present invention is specially applicahle to upholstei'ed arm chairs or couches, but it ma also be used with other similar types of urniture.

The main object of this invention is to provide a chair or couch of the type mentioned with a flap which when not required will lie flat upon or at the side of the chair but when required for use may be raised to a horizontal position at one side of the chair or end of the couch and be supported bysuitable means in this position so that it may be used as a tray upon which articles may be placed. Another object is to avoid disfiguring the chair or couch and for that purpose the flap (and its support if necessary) is preferably covered with material similar to thechair or couch covering. Thishoweverrendersthefiapliable to be quickly soiled and thus spoil the appearance of the chair. A further object of the present invention is therefore to provide the flap with a tray and this is preferably slid ably secured upon the underside of the flap so that when it is required for use it may be withdrawn and turned over upon the outer surface of the flap.

Other objects of the invention will be referred to in the following detailed description in which reference will be made to the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a perspective view of an arm chair showing the invention applied thereto and positioned in readiness to be used. In this view the dotted lines indicate the position the tray is moved to preparatory to its being pushed into the housing formed therefor on the underside of the flap.

Figure 2 is a perspective View of one side of an arm chair with the flap, tray and strut removed therefrom, a portion of the chair being broken away to expose the spring controlled stop whereby the strut, which supports the flap in its open position, is locked when in use and also-when the flap is closed down.

Figure 3 is a perspective view (partly in section) showing a portion of the fla the tray and the housing formed in the ap to accommodate the tray.

Figure 4 is a front perspective View of an arm chair'showing the cord by which the spring controlled stop is pulled back against the action of its spring for releasing purposes.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of the side of an arm chair as it appears when the flap is closed down.

Figure 6 is a plan view of the flap and tray when the latter is moved to the position indicated by dotted lines at Figure 1, the upper or outer surface of the flap having been removed to show the means adopted for preventing the tray from being pulled right out of its housing.

Figure 7 is a sectional elevation of the double hinged end of the tray in the position it occupies when in use and showing a portion of the flap, the housing formed thereunder and the transverse slidable bars to one of which the tray is hinged.

Figure 8 is a similar view of Figure 7, but t e tray has been moved upon its hinges to the position indicated by dotted lines at Figure 1.

Figure 9 is a erspective view of the strut by which the ap is supported when the latter is in use.

The chair or couch) is provided with a recess 10 suite 1 shaped and dimensioned to accommodate t e flap 11 when the latter is closed down so that its outer or up r surface will lie flush with the side of t e chair as shown in Figure 5. The flap may consist of a flat box like construction or housing 11- one end of which' is open to slidably receive the tray 14, when the latter-is not in use. Its outer surfac and exposed edges are preferably covered with material similar to the chair covering and two stop blocks 12 are secured one at or adjacent to each side of the open end of the housing 11. The recess 10 is also referably lined with material similar tot e chair covering. One side of the flap 11 is hinged to a horizontal memher or a chair at a point immediately below over suitably positioned pulley wheels 29 and the padding 13 of the arm. The tray 14 may be of any suitable material, and is preferably rectangular in shape; one end is hinged at 15 to a batten 16 which is hin ed at 16* to another batten 17. Both the battens 16 and 17 lie parallel with the end of the tray 14; and their length will be equal to the width of the tray so that they and the traymay slide freely between such stop blocks 12, and

.the batten 17 lie longitudinally between the stop blocks when the tray is pulled out to its full extent (see Figures 3 and 6). The batten 17 is provided with two short metal strips 18 which are rigidly secured to the innermost face thereof so that they project beyond the respective ends thereot to form stops which engage with the respective stop blocks 12 when the tray is slid outwardly and thus prevent the latter from becoming totally detached from the flap 11 (see Figure 6).

The flap 11 and its tray 14 will be supported in a horizontal plane whilst they are in use by a strut 19 one end of which Is hingedly secured to the under or inner side of the tie 11 in any suitable manner, the other end being provided with a metal angle piece 20 which projects laterally therefrom to limit the outward movement of the strut. At the lower edge of the recess 10 an orifice 21 is cut in the bottom of the recess to enable the strut 19 to slide in either direction through the side of the chair. In order to maintain the strut 19 in a position where it will support the flap in a horizontal plane,

a sliding stop 22 is provided and positioned so that when the strut is pulled out until the metal angle iece abuts against the rear of the bottom 0 the recess 10 the stop will automatically move across the orifice 21, and thus form an abutment for the lower end of the strut 19. A channel for the stop 22 to slide in will be formed upon the upper face of the lower horizontal member 23 of the chair frame in any suitable manner, e. g., a flat piece of metal may be screwed to the inner yertical face of the frame member 23 so that 1t projects above the upper horizontal face of that member, the projecting portion thus forming one side of and the bottom of the recess 10 forming the other side of the channel. The sliding stop 22 is rigidly secured to one end of a metal rod 24, the other end of which passes through a hole bored in a vertical member 25 of the chair frame and is provided with a nut or head 26. Interposed between the vertical frame member 25 and the adjacent end of the stop 22 is a coil spring surrounding the metal rod 24 and adapted to normally maintain the stop 22 in position across the orifice 21. For the purpose of moving the metal rod 2% and with it the stop 22 against the action of its spring 27 one end of a cord 28 or the like is attached to the end of the metal rod at 26 and is passed 30 secured in to the chair framein any convenient manner, and the other end passed upwardly and out between the seat and the back of the chair as shown at Figure 4. The strut 19 is recessed at 19 in order that the end of the stop 22 will engage therein when the flap is -closed down thus maintaining the latter in the closed position. When it is desired to raise the flap the cord 28 which unlocks the flap is ulled and the stop '22 will be thereby move back from engagement with the co-acting recess 19 in the strut and the flap will be automatically raised to a horizontal osition by a spring 32 when the cord 28 will be released thus permitting the spring 27 to force the stop back to its normal osition across the orifice 21 thereby preventin the inward movement of the strut. In this position the tra may he slid out of its housing and turne over upon its hinges through an arc of 180 when it will rest upon the upper face of the flap.

I claim:

1. An arm chair or the like including a flap hingedly secured to the side thereof, means for temporarily supporting the flap in a horizontal position, a tray slidably secured within'the flap, and means to enable the tray when pulled out to its farthest limit to be turned over on to the upper or outer surface of the flap.

2. An upholstered arm chair or the like in which the side thereof is provided with a recess, a flap hinged to the side of the chair at the upper edge of the recess so as to lie within the recess when closed down, means for removably holdin the flap in a horizontal position, a tray slidably secured within the flap, means to enable the tray when pulled out to its farthest limit to be turned over on to the upper or outer surface of the flap, and means for disengageably fastening the flap in its closed down position.

3. An upholstered arm chair or the like including a flap hinged to the side of the chair consistin of a fiat box like housing, a batten slidab y mounted within the housing, a second batten hinged with the first batten and slidable therewith, a tray hinged to the second batten, the hinged battens permitting the tra to be turned through an arc of 180 when it has been pulled out of the housing to its farthest limit, a stop at the end of the housing, a stop on the first batten and engageable with the stop on the housing to limit the outward movement of the tray, the side of the chair bein provided with a. recess for receiving the I ap when the latter is closed down, means for temporarily holding the flap in a horizontal position, and means for disengageably fastening the flap in its closed down position.

4. An upholstered arm chair or the hire in which the side of the chair is provided with i a recess, a flap hinged to the chair at the upper edge of the recess, means to disengageably fasten the flap'in its closed down position Within the recess, comprising a strut pivotally connected to the underside of the flap, the recess having an orifice through which the strut slides, a spring actuated stop slidablymounted in front of the orificein the recess and against which stop the lower end of the strut abuts when the flap is raised to a horizontal position, the side of the strut adjacent to the pivoted end thereof having a recess engageable with the spring actuated stop when the flap is closed down, and means for sliding the stop out of engagement with the recess in the strut when the flap is to be raised.

5. An upholstered arm chair and the like in which the side thereof is provided with a recess and also provided with an orifice near the lower edge of the recess, a fiap hinged to the side of the chair at. the upper edge of the recess, means for releasably supporting the flap in a horizontal position including, a strut hinged at one end to the underside of the flap, an upturned member on the other end of the strut, the strut being slidable through the orifice, a spring actuated slidable stop block against which the lower end of the strut rests when the flap is raised to its horizontal position, said spring actuated stop block being adapted to slide across and lie behind the orifice through which the strut slides when the latter has been pulled out to the farthest extent permitted by the upturned member thereon.

6. An upholstered arm chair or the like I as claimed in claim 5, wherein a metal rod is slidably arranged through the side of the chair and is fixed to the stop block, a spring about the rod and tensioned against the block, and a pull cord attached to the opposite end of the rod whereby the stop block may be pulled back against the action of the spring for the purposes set forth.

In witness whereof I have signed this specification.

ANDREW DINGWALL PARKINSON. 

